


Alternatives

by dotpng



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-10-04 22:44:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10291910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dotpng/pseuds/dotpng
Summary: Somehow he couldn't help but count down the hours, like he used to as a teen, calculating how much sleep he could get if he fell asleep right now. Ten. Nine. Eight.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place at the campfire the night before the final battle.

Everyone else had gone to sleep. But here he was, sitting by the fire with Prompto, wasting away the few hours he had left before marching to his death. Somehow he couldn't help but count down the hours, like he used to as a teen, calculating how much sleep he could get if he fell asleep _right now._ Ten. Nine. Eight.

And like back then, Prompto was here.

At first glance, when he’d run up to his old friends, Prompto had seemed identical, still young and fresh-faced.

Now, though, as he watched the firelight dance over his face, he could see them; the faint creases in his brow, at the corners of his mouth. And there, less obvious, that look in his eyes. Suddenly Noctis wanted so badly to know what had happened, what had done this to him, over these ten years he’d been gone.

Ten _years, fuck._

It was almost enough to make him numb, almost too much to feel grief. Almost.

“You don’t have to do this, you know,” Prompto muttered, and Noctis stared at him. Somehow it was the first time anyone had given him a choice. The first time he’d even considered it, really, beyond teenage resentment and rebellion. There had never been anything else.

“You, Gladio, Iggy…” Prompto said, eyes downcast, “None of you ever had a choice. You-”

“Prom-”

“No, man, listen, I’ve gotta say it.” He looked up, sharply. “You were all born into this, raised, in some way, to give yourselves up for others. Them for you and you, well, for everyone else. So you just don't _get_ it.” There was something like desperation, now, in his voice. “I wasn't made for this, at all; I chose it. I could’ve left but I didn't. And I just wanna say- Noct, I’d follow you anywhere. If you want to go ahead, fine, I’ll be there with you, I- I’ll die fighting.” He twined his fingers with Noct’s. “But you don’t have to sacrifice yourself just so the Astrals can correct their mistakes, I mean, isn’t it fucked up? You’re not some tool, you aren't- you’re a person!”

“I have to, Prompto.” he said, gently. “You know the night will never end, like this-”

Prompto smirked a little, but his grip grew tighter. “Yeah, appreciate the concern, your Highness, but we’ve been getting by pretty well without you. For ten years, no less.”

Noctis frowned. “That's no way to live.”

“But it _is_ a life. You heard about Iris, and Aranea, right? They’re doing good out there. Even if you didn't go, we’d work it out, some way or another. Let some other poor bastard figure out a prophecy.” He looked at Noctis, hope and yearning spelled out in his voice.

For a moment he closed his eyes and let himself indulge the fantasy, picturing it: running away with Prompto, letting Ardyn rot in that old, dark castle (hell, he could keep it), killing daemons for a living and sleeping curled up in a tent and getting used to the sight of stars, night and day. They wouldn't need a legacy or titles or fancy things. They could be wild, together.

And then he opened his eyes, and tucked that thought away into a deep, hidden corner of his mind.

“Prompto.” he said. “I’m going to do it.”

Something in his face crumpled at that, though he tried to hide it. “Yeah. Yeah, I figured.”

Noctis reached out, then, and pulled Prompto into a kiss, deep and searching. He felt him startle a bit before kissing back; maybe it was the decade they’d lost, unfelt to Noct but all-too-real to him, without speaking, without touching. Maybe it was the way they’d always teased at attraction, danced around it all those years ago without ever really putting it into words. But the time had passed for coyness.

He pulled back. “Hey, Prompto.”

“Yeah?”

“Let's go to bed.”

**Author's Note:**

> Taking requests/prompts at honestfutures.tumblr.com!


End file.
